Floyd Fest 9!

It had been just over two years since we last went to an outdoor music festival (MerleFest when Amanda was 6 months pregnant to be exact) and we decided it was high time that our son experience his first taste of one of his parents favorite activities. It was not only our first trip to a festival with Henson, it was also our first camping trip, and with the exception of some carsickness on the way up to Floyd (those are some pretty heavy curves) it was a great weekend! We saw lots of great music, met good new friends and got to hang out with some of our closest friends

as well. We all learned how comfortable sleeping in a hammock is (definitely taking some digging tools next year for a level campsite) and how to take turns going out to see the late night jams. It was a great time and we can't wait to go back in 2011 to see David Grisman and teach Henson more about dancing barefoot and dodging the novices with the devil sticks.

CARSON DRIVE REUNION!!-Amanda

This was a first meeting for most of the kids, and it was definitely the first time all the adults have gotten together since...oh gosh, I have no idea! Maybe since high school. Big thanks to Amanda (Morton) Redick for getting us all together. It sure was a blast to get to see everyone, especially this sweet little girl, Hadley Redick:

This is our "big boy" of the group, Mr. Carson Matthews.

The boys got to making funny faces (my guys need HAIRCUTS)!

This is NOT the face Stephen makes at Carson (somebody's got Daddy wrapped around her finger). She deserved to cry, though...she took a laundry basket to the noggin (the boys were having a BLAST)!

Mandy and Carson smiling for the camera...everyone says he looks just like Stephen, but I see her in there in this photo especially!

Cassie McNeill and Henson. Though they'd never met before, Henson knows not to ask questions when a pretty girl wants to cuddle you!

Amanda and her amazing creation, Hadley. Unfortunately, this is all we saw of our little gal. She was O-U-T for the whole night. May have been for the best, though, considering how much the other three were moving about! Even after the laundry basket incident, Chloe was grooving around that room!!

It was a GREAT opportunity to catch up with friends (all are happy and healthy) and to meet all the new little ones. The kids aren't spaced too much further apart than our little neighborhood "crew" (Amanda, Stephen, myself, and Steven Rosser). I hope that means they will play together famously when we get together again! And of course, there may be even MORE kids (I am NOT next y'all!)

What a wonderful thing to still be in touch with, and get to hold the children of, your OLDEST friends! It took forever for me to post it, but they are all always in my thoughts, and seeing them all as adults (even if we rarely get to fit it in) is such a testament to our friendships.

*And though this event was MONTHS ago, and this post is also much too late to be "timely" congrats to CASSIE'S FELLA for putting a ring on it! He's a lucky guy (who better be ready to come play next time we do this)!!!

Almost all moved in!-Amanda

SO we're all moved in now!!!!

There are a few things to be changed (paint colors, furniture arrangement, and the like) but we LOVE LOVE LOVE the new house.

What's even better, we to most of summer to get it all just right, and we had plenty of time to get almost all of our friends over to visit (and now know where we live) in the evenings...as they always say on HGTV, plenty of space for "entertaining" which is really important when you have to hang out in your backyard after your toddler's bedtime:)

Here are the rooms:

Laundry Room

Backyard (check out the swingset!)

Henson's room (color to be changed, but it will take a while since the color is a nod to a Grateful Dead song)

outside view (paved drive and a GARAGE)

Our bedroom (with a bathroom off to the left of this angle-2 BATHROOMS)

Living Room (and Henson dusting/ watching television)

Eat-in-kitchen (with our new huge table)

Den/ music room/ playroom/ fun time room

Henson posing for a "just moved" note I never sent out. but He looks cute as a button and loves all the flowers and animals (we have even seen chipmunks here).

We loved Glenwood, and we especially loved our home and all of the transitions we had there: from bar-hoppers to baby-bouncers. We also miss seeing all the hard-work we put into that house...but we're really settling in here. It was the right time to move, and this house is going to work out for us for the next little bit as well.

*soon to be posted (hopefully): my studio room...the 2nd biggest reason for wanting to move (bathrooms being first)

Barbees at the beach!-Amanda

Shortly after moving to the new house (and with a lot of things still in boxes) we went with Mom, Dad, Katie, Kristen, and Joseph to Nag's Head. We rented a GREAT condo that had enough room for everyone, 2 bathrooms, a pool, and a keyless entry...that cannot be valued enough by people who now lug house and home down to the sand 3 times daily!

Here are some photos of the trip. The highlights were: a Lion King soundtrack dance party (yes, Aunt Katie had this track ready and waiting for her tanning jams), and family time on the balcony for the sunrise.

We also hung out ON the beach, I promise. I would post those pictures, but lets just say that LOTS of people were wanting to get LOTS of skin tanned, and they would NOT get out of my shots (you're welcome).

We moved (months ago, but)-Amanda

Why is Jon eating food in an unusual kitchen? Why is there a new table that just got unpacked?



We sold the house in Glenwood and moved across town to Lawndale Homes! Needless to say, the selling/ buying process was ridiculous, but we got over here relatively unscathed!

We packed up the house to the TEE, but Jon didn't have everything straightened up under the house...in Davey's words "This is

the kinda thing that really knocks

the wind out of a move."

Our friends helped us move out of our house (and storage facility) in the rain over a Holiday (Memorial Day weekend). Insanely huge thanks to: Dad, Mom, Erin & Davey, Aaron, Jeff & Shelby, and Katie.

Spring Break!-Amanda

We fit in quite a bit of fun for the Spring Break this year. A lot of teachers took Monday and Tuesday off of work, but Jon and I had not a day to spare, so we went in to work those two days. I got a lot done, but it was really empty on Naco Road, and I missed little Chubby Lovekins!

On Wednesday, Jon and I opted to go and help out with tornado clean-up in High Point. We met some really neat folks and got a good work out.

The rest of the week was filled with gardening, family, friends, and general merry-making. Oh...and POTTY TRAINING beginnings!

Aunt Katie and Henson discussed the best things about wagon travel. He loves that thing!

Henson is teething, so he refuses to go without his pacifier. He hung out with us in the backyard with Shimi and Meeko while Jon and I gardened. Other than a few reminders not to go up the stairs alone, he was having a blast all on his own!

As you can see here, he fell in LOVE with my hoop. Henson saw me playing around with it to loosen up a kink in my neck, and he "hooped" for a good while afterwards.

Henson got a guitar for his 18 month-old day. or his "Red Nose Day" according to an old friend of ours.

It's a seven years and up, but Jon said he couldn't se Henson throw around his mandolin one more time. A father's love must have SOME limits!

As interested as he seems in this photo, it wasn't until we put some stickers on it (Avett Brothers and a few smiley faces from "Highlights" magazine) that the mere sight of it didn't send him running away.

He just wanted to get some flair on it, and now he's ready to jam (and applaud himself)!

We are trying to establish a working understanding of this new tiny thing in the bathroom. It would help A LOT of it flushed!!

Henson has really enjoyed sitting down to read his books and scoot the potty around.

Junaid gave this outfit to Henson when he was only 3 months old, and it was PERFECT that it fit for Easter. Though we're not sure if we're actually going to do big Holidays like this in the future, we couldn't resist the photos...as you can see, Henson wanted it to be over.

Actually, all this was because the egg hunt was in the front yard and not the back. He LOVES those dogs SO MUCH!

All in all a great beak. Veggies are planted, Henson now knows the joy of both potties and bubbles, we got a few days of family time, and we saw friends all along the way. This family thing is pretty awesome, even though it's putting time into WARP SPEED!

Love to all,

amanda

Yo Gabba Gabba...YO!

The boy is PASSIONATE about hummus!

No real explanation, the small soccer ball fit and he was proud! Okay, he'd had spaghetti for dinner and had some in his eyebrows and on his shirt, he wasn't playing rugby or anything.

First moments of the first snow of winter. Henson had so much fun in the "nnnnooooo."

This is what happens when you trust your son to reach in and grab his own Cheerios.

Katie's 24th Birthday brownie was served freshly decorated. How did Henson and Katie coordinate their striped greys so well?
This is a bad picture, but it's Henson's first haircut. If you notice the stylist's hair, you will see that he was the perfect guy for the job. He could've used post-snack-toddler-spit to style that hair. He cut off the mullet, left the bangs long, and didn't make my son look creepy. I highly recommend Leon's on Tate Street. They have cut our hair for a long time, and not a single cut, including this tear-jerking milestone, has made me cry (and yes, I cry when JON gets bad cuts).
Henson (pre-cut) slicked his hair, wore a button-up shirt and overalls to look country-chic for his Valentine, Aunt Kaky!
Life is fun! Every evening is either going to end this messy, or this giggly, or BOTH!

Henson is finally old enough to appreciate those "family friendly" events and activities we have avoided before now: the zoo, parks and playgrounds, aquariums, farmers' markets...the list of places to take our toddling-kiddo (as opposed to our bunting-wrapped blob) is growing by the day.

First camping trip and first outdoor concert may be accomplished simultaneously at either Floydfest or Smilefest this Spring. Henson loves funk, soul, and jam music (where did he get that, I wonder?) and both festivals are claiming to be super family-oriented this year, so why not? As long as I've got string cheese (the food, not the incident) and sunscreen, Henson will be a happy fella!

The other new development for Henson is personal preference. Things that he holds dear are now referred to as "mine," and he is madly in love with Yo Gabba Gabba

Jon likens the music to 8-bit video games. Those folks are geniuses, we can actually withstand a full episode without batting an eye, and sometimes even sing those damned-catchy songs to him for fun. If I could just get "There's a party in my tummy, so yummy, so yummy" stuck in my head when exercising, it's keep my going for hours.

Bedtimes are going easier, so long as the books "The Giant Jam Sandwich" and "Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse" are on the schedule. Jon and I finally feel like we've got this (young) family thing down, and we are enjoying the schedule we each have, and how much family time that provides.

Life is full and fun, and though there is never enough time to do everything on the list, the priorities have never been clearer!